How Glucose Can Restore the Brain after Trauma

Last year, I accidently fell and hit my head so hard I gave myself a concussion. I couldn’t handle to volume at church nor the commotion at a grocery store. It’s like being tormented just to exist. I would fall asleep driving home from Costco. The Lord did a miraculous healing in me after my pastor from Nebraska laid hands on me and prayed for me. Instantly, all the symptoms were gone. The healing allowed me to drive and handle the airport and manage normal daily life without the crazy-making hypersensitivity to light and sound. I thank God for His healing hand! I also thank God for what that concussion taught me along the way before the quick and fast miracle. My concussion doctor, Dr. Stephens, taught me about glucose can restore the brain after trauma.

Emotional and Physical Trauma

First, we sat down and he started asking about childhood traumas, even in the womb and at birth. We quickly surveyed the traumas in my lifeline, and it’s path was deep and wide. The first thing Dr. Stephens taught me was that trauma affects the brain in the same ways whether it’s a physical trauma or emotional trauma.

Dr. Stephens is a psychologist who specializes in neuroscience and optimal brain function. He discovered that glucose can restore the brain after trauma when crying out to God in prayer, asking for a solution for his patients. Dr. Stephens was working with patients who had TBIs and concussions, but then also started working with military veterans. He realized they had all the same symptoms of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) even if they never had a TBI. Whether physical trauma like a head injury or emotional trauma like PTSD, the brain responds in the same way. So we see similar symptoms.

This made sense to me because a dear friend of mine and podcaster, Rachael Flick, had a TBI-like experience after loss. After the traumatic murder of her police force husband, she told me how she could not put her shoes or pants on. Her brain couldn’t figure out how to get herself dressed. And I had my own symptoms of a head injury after losing my husband, even though I didn’t have a physical head injury at the time.

I wonder if what I refer to as “grief brain” in When Mountains Crumble is deeply tied to this trauma response in the brain.

Trauma and the Brain

Trauma essentially splits the right and left hemispheres of the brain and the cortisol wall down the middle prevents the brain from communicating back and forth. (Side note. That’s why cross crawls and brain integration exercises can be so effective.)

Trauma, whether emotional or physical, also depletes the amount of glucose the body sends to the brain. This is a very simple sugar that goes straight to the blood-brain system, and is it’s main source of fuel. So when we get a TBI or a concussion, we need to eat lots of fruits and veggies because those quickly convert to glucose in the brain. We can also just give the body lots of straight glucose to help it heal.

Now I’m no medical professional, but I wanted to share my understanding of what my concussion doctor taught me because I’ve seen how powerful this can be. He discovered the importance of glucose and how, once the brain finally gets the fuel it needs again, it can begin to help repair the body.

Each trauma compounds over time and slowly decreases the amount of glucose sent to the brain. So a lifelong of trauma, whether physical or emotional, is going to leave you ending up operating on maybe only 20-30% of the fuel it really needs over time. Dr Stephens guessed I was in that ballpark or less after surveying the quick landscape of my story.

Glucose, Fuel to Heal

I started taking glucose in the middle of the night if I couldn’t sleep and it helped me. One night, I woke up thinking of a lady who I’ve known and loved for like 20 years. And it really troubled me that I could not remember her name. This would be like forgetting your aunt or your mom’s name! I mean, it was really troubling. As I racked my brain for her name, the only thing I could think of was to go get dextrose. Within seconds of taking it, I could remember the woman’s name.

Years of trauma severely affected my body’s ability to drive. I didn’t understand why until Dr. Stephens explained that driving requires a ton of rapid fire glucose burning in the brain. So if I was already on a severe deficit, then driving just depleted the glucose fuel I needed even more. I’ve noticed glucose helps me not nod off and feel like I’m falling asleep when driving. In fact, Smarties are almost entirely dextrose so I keep those in my car and purse at all times now in case I need help feeling clarity and alertness to drive home after a big outing.

Before God miraculously healed me by laying on of hands and prayer, I noticed the glucose did its own kind of miracle in healing trauma. It helped me get through a week of airport travel and visiting a ton of kids museums and all the stimulation those entail. Honestly, it astonished me.

Body vs Brain System

I’m a mom who limits sugar because I’ve had to for health reasons. And here’s my doctor telling me I need to take multiple tablespoons a day of straight up dextrose/glucose. One of the things we’ve always been taught to avoid!

But he explained that dextrose is such a simple form of sugars that it goes straight to the blood-brain system, and that’s different than the body system. (So don’t misread this and go start eating a bunch of Snicker bars and slushies. It’s not a prescription to pound sugar.) It was all hard for me to wrap my struggling brain around, but I trusted him on the dextrose and went for it. And I’m so glad I did!

Restored Hope

I have many more stories to tell about this personally, but Dr. Stephens has way more. He’s seen people healed from dyslexia, PCOS, diabetes, you name it. Because the brain got the fuel it needed, it could do it’s God given job to heal the body. Today, I’m just introducing you to the concept. But if you’re struggling with trauma in your brain and body, I want to highly encourage you to look in to this more. Grab a copy of Dr. Stephen’s book, Restored Hope: A Neuroscience Guide to Optimal Brain and Human Function

Currently, I take about one heaping spoonful of dextrose in my morning beverage, with lunch, snack, dinner and before bed. It’s getting me through unbelievable amounts of high level decision making and a lightning pace of changes. I’ve been able to face an onslaught of traumatic memories lately without them totally debilitating me. Grab Dr. Stephen’s book. And grab a glass of water with some dextrose and slosh of lemon juice, and be healed and be encouraged. God is showing us ways we can heal because He delights in us and loves us. And we need healed because we have kingdom work to do!